The recently concluded spectrum auctions were a stone in the Indian telecom lake. Its ripples will be felt for a while
“The auctions were a success!” says Mohammad Chowdhury, the head of PwC’s India Telecoms practice.
Is he referring to the same auctions I just witnessed? The ones where there were literally zero takers for CDMA spectrum, meaning it had to be called off; and on the GSM side the total bids amounted to just over Rs 9,400 crore, much less than even the combined base price of Rs 15,000 crore?
“Sorry Mohammad, did you just say they were a success?” I ask him.
“Sure. We know the auction mechanics worked well because they revealed the real demand for spectrum. That had become very important for the sector. Given all the bad news that has plagued telecom in the last one year, I’d say these auctions were a breath of fresh air,” he says.
(This story appears in the 07 December, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)